Thorn Alpha 1
90W SOX
My first lantern was removed on the
26th March 2002 from column number 24199 (Blagreaves Lane, Derby) due to faulty
control gear. The replacement lantern is an Alpha 4 of the same wattage. The
lantern was brought round a day later, however I wasn't in at the time, and so
it was kept hidden until Easter Monday (the Monday after the 27th), when it was
given as a late 'Easter egg'! Being my first lantern, and a gearless one at
that, I hadn't got a clue as to what gear was required, let alone how to wire it
up, so I had the gear fitted professionally, and on the 26th June, the wiring
was completed, and I at last could run my first lantern properly!
The Alpha 1 is, and will always be one
of my favourite lanterns - it looked nothing like anything that had been
produced before when it was first launched in 1955, to a design put forward by
Mr Richard Stevens, and nothing like it was ever tried again - the Revo Sol d'or
came close, but still does not match the quality or simplicity of the Thorn
lantern. In 1958 the lantern won a prestigious design award at Milan, as it was
the first hermetically sealed and injection moulded optical system for a road
lantern. Only in the early 1990s did production of the lantern finally cease -
an excellent lifetime for a design that was as groundbreaking then as it was 50
years previously.
Photographs
Thorn Beta 5
35W SOX
Hy-lite HL4N
This lantern was given to me personally
by some extremely kind and friendly workers of Tarmac's Street lighting division
on Saturday 7th September 2002 who were painting columns and checking fuses on
my estate when I spent over two hours talking to them, and generally hindering
their progress...I spotted the Beta 5 in the back of the workers' bucket van,
under some piping, and cheekily asked for it - I think they were quite happy to
oblige as it was in the way in the van. Once the lantern had been salvaged from
in amongst the piping, I was told that it had been removed from a street with
(sleeved) concrete columns that were being replaced with new metal columns.
The men returned the following week, (Sat 14th Sept 2002) to replace a twisted
metal column, and they asked if I'd managed to get the Beta 5 going - I
certainly had - it was my first gear-in-head lantern, as well as my first
lantern with a photocell, and so I wasted no time in getting it going! After
this, I spent another two hours or so helping/hindering them with their work;
the best part being when I held the bracket from the old column before it was
fastened to the new one. It is not easy holding a video camera, bracket and
lantern at the same time however!
Thorn Beta 5s are used extensively in Derbyshire - they are
probably the most common side road lantern that you will see in the county.
Photographs
Comparison with other Beta
5s in my collection
Philips SGS 204
400W SON-T
Royce Thompson Monostar 1000
This was meant to be the Atlas Alpha 3 mentioned further down
this page. Well, to cut a long story short, I got this lantern instead. In Derby
in 2002+ a major scheme is underway called 'Connecting Derby' - it basically
involves reshaping and modernising of routes. Many Alpha 3s were in places work
was to be carried out, along with a few SGS 204s where Alpha 3s had been removed
in about 1998. On hearing a lantern had been removed on Thursday 26th September
2002, I went down to the workmen's lockup (with permission) and asked the
workmen there about this lantern. I was then shown into a cabin and the SGS 204
was on the floor. Picking this lantern up proved to be quite a task - I can
safely say, this is one of the heaviest lanterns in my collection!
It took a while to get this lantern working, as I did not
have any hexagonal 'Allen' keys at the time, and so had to borrow a set. Once I
had gained access into the lantern's innards, I soon discovered the reason for
the weight - the 400W ballast. High wattages mean large, heavy, gear sets. I
finally got the lantern working for the first time on Friday, 4th October 2002,
and was rather dazzled when the lamp had warmed up fully!
Photographs
Top of Page
GEC Z9454 (aka WRTL MRL 90)
90W SOX
I bought this and the next
two lanterns from a local collector. None have never been used for 'street'
lighting, but they were used to light a now demolished army camp called Hilton
Depot. This particular lantern dates from the early 1980s, and is the last
version of the Z9454 that was made by GEC before the lantern was renamed the MRL
90 by WRTL. It is in a very good condition, despite the 20 or so years it had
seen in use outdoors. The lantern was made operational on Wednesday, 15th April
2003, using the gear for the Alpha 1.
Photographs
Top of Page
GEC Z9450
140W SO/H, SOI, 90W SOX
This is
the Z9454's predecessor - probably dating from the late 1950s or early 1960s.
Although both lanterns could be described as being 'similar' in appearance, they
both have a lot of differences in design - probably the most obvious of these
differences is the shape of the bowl - where this lantern has a flat-bottomed
bowl, the Z9454 has a bowl that resembles a triangle when looked at straight-on.
I first got this lantern working on the 23rd April 2003, again using the Alpha
1's gear to power the lamp.
Photographs
Top of Page
GEC Z9464
140W SO/H, SOI, 90W SOX
This is
an early design for the gear-in-head version of the Z9454 (the '6' denoting the
presence of gear), and fortunately the original gear is still present in the
lantern, and even still works! Although the lantern's canopy is larger, to
accommodate the gear, the lantern can easily be identified as being part of the
Z9454 family due to the familiar, triangular-shaped bowl. Due to age, the
plastic used to make the bowl has clouded, and is very brittle.
Photographs
Top of Page
GEC Z5698U
35W SOX
This lantern was the one and only lantern that got removed in my presence during
my work experience with Derby City Council's street lighting department. I was
working with Jeremy (someone I only thought that I'd know for the duration of
the work experience week - which obviously was not the case as things turned
out!) on Wednesday, 14th May 2003, and one of the job sheets we had was to
repair this particular lantern - it had been reported as being unlit. We went up
to have a look and soon noticed that the lantern had a few cracks in the bowl,
and was showing signs of water ingress, so the decision was made to replace it.
Being a post top lantern, there was a limitation as to the sort of replacement
lantern we could use - really, the only other post top lantern used regularly in
the Derbyshire area is the Thorn Gamma 6, and we didn't have any in stock at the
time, so a small outreach bracket was attached to the column, and a Thorn Beta 5
was fitted. Using this lantern probably actually improved lighting levels along
the road - post tops tend to spread more of the light at the height at which the
lantern is mounted.
I decided to keep this
lantern, as it has always been one of my favourite lantern types, namely because
such lanterns were used on a footpath behind the house that I lived in when I
was young - and as luck would have it, my bedroom was on the back of the house,
and you couldn't look out of the window without seeing at least one Z5698U! I
loved watching the lamp warming up, and often wondered why the lights at home
did not do the same! I also wondered how the lantern switched on/off every day,
but I seem to remember the 'light sensor' principle being explained to me very
early on! I reckon that this lantern was the main reason for my interest in
street lighting today.
Shortly before we moved to
the present house, the lantern was changed for a Gamma 6 - what a pity I didn't
collect back then!
Photographs
Top of Page
Thorn Beta 5
35W SOX
This is
an older version of my other Beta 5. It was given to me on the same date (and by
the same man) as above! Differences in this lantern include a shorter gear tray,
a squarer canopy and a springy lamp support, but the bowl is identical to the
new version in every way. This style of Beta 5 is used all over the city - they
started appearing in the early 1980s to replace Group 'B' mercury lanterns.
Photographs
Comparison with other Beta
5s in my collection
Top of Page
Atlas
Alpha 3/AEI Optispec One
400W MBF
Atlas (At last) I have an Alpha 3! I've waited for over a
year to get one, and now I finally have one - an original 1960s one. Atlas later
became Thorn but some of the original designs were retained, however this is
different to the Thorn version in as much as there is one extra clip on either
side of the bowl that the Thorn lanterns do not have, neither do they have a
white spot on the bowl - instead, refractor lines are moulded in.
The lantern
has never been used as a 'street' light - instead it and
three other Alpha 3s were used to light the 'tram sheds' at Stores Road (where I
did my work experience). They were made redundant when new SON floodlights were
installed. I was speaking to Jeremy about trying to get one when he said - "Oh,
there are some old ones in the tram sheds - they're disconnected now. I'll try
and get permission to get one down for you." So he tried on the Friday before I
left, but the sheds were locked up - so he promised to get one some time the
following week. And lo and behold, on Monday, 19th May 2003, he came round with
it and a lamp. The gear was mounted in a box below the lantern, but it was in a
very poor condition, and was too rusty to move. (The tram sheds were
originally for trams as their name suggests, but today store park machinery and
broken amusements. The building is very old, and the raised first floor offices
are now closed off to everyone - they're not safe anymore.)
Photographs
Top of Page
ESLA 155°
100W
GLS
Yes, it
has happened - I've finally got an ESLA! I had been told about it some months
back - it was in a local antiques yard, but at the time I couldn't afford it.
Well, I saved every last penny, and I've got it now, and I'm really pleased with
it. It has unfortunately become very rusty and at least ten mirrors are damaged,
but I've tested it and it works - that is a start! The bracket is very unusual:
it isn't a swan neck - it is more like the ones as shown on the
Survivors
from the Past Page. I think this will take a long time to fully
restore to its former glory, but one day it'll be perfect again. I don't know
where it came from, although I'd imagine it to be local.
Preliminary Photographs
Restoration
Choosing the Column
Being fitted to the Column
Wiring up and Working
An ESLA for
all Seasons
The First Bulb Change
Top of Page
GEC Z8896
80W MBF
Royce Thompson P42
This
lantern was removed in summer 2003 due to the bowl being too yellowed to give
out much useful light. It was mounted on a housing-association concrete column
in Mackworth and was replaced with a Thorn Beta 79. Had it been directly owned
by the street lighting department, it is likely that the lantern would have been
replaced many years ago. I know of no other Z8896s in the Derby area, and so
this may well have been the last one in the city.
Photographs
Top of Page
Philips MI 26 (XGS 103)
18W SOX
Royce Thompson P5
"What?",
I hear you say, "18W?". Well, you'd be right in thinking this was cheating a bit
- since it is actually a refurbishment job by Jeremy. Although the lantern is
designed for a 35W SOX lamp, the lamp support can be fitted further up the
lantern to accommodate the shorter lamp. Philips did design the lantern to be
run under 18W or 35W, although the former was only 'for special application',
and so is much rarer. My street uses the latter with Royce Thompson Oasis 2000
photocells so it'll be interesting to compare the two lamps. The
MI 26 lantern was renamed the XGS 103 by Philips in about 2000 but it is exactly
the same lantern. There is no identification on this lantern to explain which it
should be named, but the NEMA socket is dated 1992, so I'll assume that it is an
MI 26.
Photographs
Top of Page
Philips MA 50
135W
SOX
Sirebeck S300
I saw
this lantern being removed on the morning of the 15th August 2003, however I
didn't have time to stop and ask for it then, which was a shame, but at least, I
thought, there are still plenty of other gear-in-head MA 50s around, so all is
not lost. (It was replaced with a Thorn Alpha 4 using a lamp of the same
wattage.) Well, a few days later, Jeremy brought the lantern round, along with a
replacement ballast, as the existing one had failed - hence the reason for the
lantern's removal. He was planning to fit the new ballast without removing the
lantern, but was away when the work was carried out, and the repairman who was
given the job couldn't find the replacement ballast, so he just changed the
lantern over. A date written inside the MA 50 shows that the lantern was
installed in April 1998 - not really the 25 year life expectancy!
UPDATE
- The Alpha 4 itself has now been replaced! I first noticed this change on the
morning of Monday, 21st February 2005. The new lantern is a Thorn Alpha 8,
running a SON-T lamp. The only reason that I can think of for the Alpha 4's
replacement is that it is near a Zebra Crossing and so better colour rendering
might be required for motorists to see pedestrians crossing the road. The next
column on from this, a sleeved 10m Stanton, has also had an Alpha 8 fitted,
replacing a gear-in-base MA 50.
Photographs
Top of Page
Revo 'Bell Top' C14408T
80W MBF
Cableform SS55
This
lantern was bought from
Claire Pendrous, as she already had one, so
this was a surplus lantern. It was removed in September 2003, and came from Corn
Hill, near Wolverhampton Railway Station.
It had been disconnected for a long time, and was one of two remaining in the
street. The replacements are heritage columns with SON lanterns.
The AC Ford control box and swan neck I got with it were not from this
particular lantern, but were from
another location in the town, but with this lantern attached to it, would be
very representative of MBF lighting that was once common around Wolverhampton.
There are still a few locations in the town where that combination can still be
seen working. The
control box contained original working gear, so new gear will not be required.
The base
of the swan neck will need to be re-threaded, as the existing thread snapped
when removed from the control box, however apart from that, there is not too
much repair work to be carried out. The lantern needs a good cleaning inside and
out - it is very dusty! Also, the hinge in the reflector plate has rusted shut,
so a spraying with penetrating oil will be tried, to separate the hinge.
Preliminary Photographs
Restoration Photographs
Top of Page
Thorn Alpha 6
140W
and 200W SLI/H with and without gear
These
three lanterns are very unusual as they have never been used and are still
in their original Thorn boxes. They were found during a big clearout at the
Derby City Council depot in one of the old stable blocks - the depot at one time
being used for some of the Derby Corporation trams. One of the managers was
leaving in the week of the 26th January 2004, so before he left wanted to clear
out some of the rooms the city council used to use for their street lighting
storerooms in the late 1980s and early 1990s. He noticed a set of Thorn boxes in
a corner, and so asked Jeremy if he could identify what they were. When Jeremy
saw that they carried the name "Alpha 6", he could hardly believe it! Derby used
to have a lot of these lanterns right up to about 1990, when the last SLI/H
lamps were produced, but then were all scrapped when the existing lamp supplies
ran out.
Fortunately, thanks to some of these lamps being retained for safe keeping
before they all disappeared, the lanterns can be run as intended without any
need to convert them to SOX. They are an incredibly rare lantern now as it is,
and so ones in such a perfect condition as these must be like gold!
Preliminary Photographs
140W (Integral Geared Version)
Photographs
200W (Remote Geared Version)
Photographs
200W (Integral Geared Version)
Photographs
Installation and Wiring
instructions
Top of Page
GEC Z9554M (aka WRTL MRL 135)
135W
SOX
Another
lantern that has never been used! This design is the one with the later GRP
canopy - made under the name MRL 135 by
WRTL
up until late 2005. Many of the original ones from the 1960s are still in use on
the streets of Derby, and most still have their original control gear and
control units.
Photographs
Installation and Wiring
instructions
Top of Page
Thorn Alpha 8
150W
SON-E
Yet
another of the 'stored for safe keeping' range at Derby City Council, this
lantern was meant to be used in the Becket St. area of Derby, but wasn't! The
lanterns were ordered without individual photocell control, as they were to be
group switched off a single lantern. The Thorn SON 'Deluxe' lamps were used as
standard, allowing a much whiter light than traditional SON lamps.
Photographs
Top of Page
Thorn Alpha 4
90W SOX
This
lantern was all ready to be used, however its bowl and clips were required for
another job, and so has not been installed anywhere. It has a fair amount of
dust and dirt on it from being in the van, but this will wipe off easily. Alpha
4s are often used to replace failed Alpha 1s in Derby, but have also been used
on new lighting schemes as well.
Photographs
Replacement Bowl Instructions
Top of Page
Urbis ZX1
70W
SON-T
This
lantern came from
Bob Cookson, and has actually been used! There
are very few Urbis lanterns around Derby at the time of writing, as the main
lantern providers around here are Thorn and Philips. Some roads owned by the
Highways Agency are lit with ZX3s, but as far as I know, there aren't any ZX1s
in use within the city area. (I now know that some of the ZX3s are actually
owned by the council - see the ZX3 article below.)
Photographs
Top of Page
Thorn Alpha 5
140W
SLI/H
I nearly
have the entire Alpha range now, however this one has been the closest so far to
being scrapped! It was discovered in a skip amongst a pile of old brackets and
damaged columns and was incredibly lucky to be salvaged as the skip it was in
was removed later on that day. The box has suffered some damage, but fortunately
the lantern is still in a good condition; the only sign of its age being that
the springy steel used to support the lampholders has rusted slightly, but this
can be painted and it will look new again.
Photographs
Installation and Wiring
Instructions
Top of Page
Thorn Gamma 6
70W
SON-E
Sirebeck S300
Most of
the Gamma 6s around here are 35W SOX, so the SON version is rare around here -
only used by Housing Association I'd previously thought, but this was used by
the City Council itself. It and several others were used to light a footpath,
but now, brackets have been fitted to the columns along with side entry
lanterns.
Photographs
Top of Page
GEC Z3430 (aka WRTL HML400)
400W
SON-T
This
lantern came off one of the high masts on the ring road. It is in need of a good
clean, but isn't in too bad a condition. The Z3430s are not the original
lanterns - when the high masts were first put up, 1kw mercury lanterns were
used, but as SON became popular, they were replaced.
Photographs
Top of Page
Philips XGS 103
35W SOX
Royce Thompson Monostar 1000
Now this
is an 'official' Philips lantern! There is nothing wrong with it, although it
was found in the scrap pile. This surprised me - an electronic ballast is
fitted; and these certainly don't come cheap!
Photographs
Top of Page
Vandalite Skye
70W
SON-E
You have
probably never heard of this lantern or company, but they specialise in, as you
would gather, highly vandal resistant luminaires. The Skye was used in a number
of parks and recreation grounds in the Derby city area up until recently, but is
now being replaced with Thorn Civics due to a few being vandalised continually!
How on earth this happened I'm not really sure, as the lantern is very tough so
maybe our local vandals are superhuman or something!
Photographs
Top of Page
Industria 2015
70W
SON-T
Royce Thompson S100
The
lantern's original location is unknown, but it may have come from the Pride Park
area of the City, as the 2015 was chosen to light the original footpaths when
the area opened in the mid 1990s. Also, the capacitor on the lantern's gear tray
is dated to 1996, so this would fit. The only thing that I would say to suggest
otherwise is that all of the other 2015s and their columns on Pride Park were
originally painted red (now pink due to the colour fading over time!), whereas
this one has a black canopy and base casting - and this has splatters of
'Derbyshire Green' paint on it from when its column was painted. The only other
place that I have seen them in use in the City is on a footpath near Pear Tree
railway station, but I think those columns are either painted silver, or are
unpainted.
Photographs
Top of Page
GEC Z8430
250W
MBF
This
lantern was used to light a section of the council depot which I did my
'official'
work experience at. It dates from 1965 according to a date on the bowl. It
is more or less the same as the Z8896, just bigger. The replacement lantern was
a WRTL MRL 6, and had a metal halide lamp fitted.
Photographs
Top of Page
GEC Z5670
125W
MBF
Thanks to
Davy Warren for sending this. This lantern was removed from column 2 on
Cressbrook Walk, Plymouth, in early 2004 and was replaced with a ZX1 on a stub
bracket with a Zodion SS9 part night photocell (the Z5670 was controlled by an
all-night
Venner MSQP time switch.). There was no actual fault with the lantern
- it was just removed due to the gradual phasing out of time switches in the
Plymouth area.
Photographs
Top of Page
Thorn Beta 79
100W
SON-E
Royce Thompson Oasis 2000
This
lantern is fairly new, however the column it was on had been knocked over and it
was decided that the new column would be fitted with a new lantern, meaning that
this one was made redundant. The 100W version of the Beta 79 is only used in a
few places in Derby, as is the 125W mercury version - the 70W version is far
more common but even so they are not really used for street lighting - instead,
they are used on footpaths and in car parks.
Photographs
Top of Page
Revo Prefect
100W
GLS
This is
the first lantern that I have won on eBay and I'm very pleased with it. All I
know of its history is that it was used in the Birmingham area but I have no
idea of exactly where. I am assuming that the lantern has always been used for
tungsten, as the insides are very clean and the wires are not blackened and
burnt as they would be if a mercury lamp had been used. Also, the bowl shows
little signs of yellowing.
Photographs
Top of Page
Thorn Pilote T2
250W
SON-T
Thanks to
Danial Thomas for letting me have this lantern. The Pilote is quite a rare
lantern in the UK - it is made in France by Thorn Europhane, however a
dual-carriageway (and its associated sliproads) near me uses them on
group-switch control. The design is similar to that of the Alpha 2000 but has
been around for longer. The T2 is the medium sized version; with the T1 being
the smallest (designed for 70 - 100W SON-T lamps) and the now discontinued T3
being the largest (designed for 400W lamps). For a PDF file on the Pilote, click
here. (In French)
Photographs
150W
SON-T
This
lantern was originally used on one of the sliproads mentioned above. It was
removed when its column (8266) was hit by a vehicle on Thursday, 16th November
2006. The column was located on quite a sharp bend and so the vehicle must have
lost control as it came onto the bend. The lantern was severely damaged in the
accident and will only be used to provide parts for other lanterns - I am
therefore not counting this lantern as an addition to the collection.
Surprisingly, the bowl survived - it is fully intact.
Photographs
Top of Page
GEC 'Nightwatch' Z9537
55W SOX
Royce Thompson P42
This
lantern also came from
Claire. I was attracted to it because it uses a
P42 two-part cell but it is gear-in-head. Usually, two-part cells are used on
gearless lanterns so that wiring is easier - all the connections can be wired
into a controller in the column base. However, this lantern has a controller in
the lantern itself! It appears as though the gear tray has been modified
slightly to accommodate the controller - sometimes this means that the capacitor
has to be removed from the circuit but it is still in place in this lantern, due
to the ballast having an internal ignitor.
The lantern came from either Great Charles Street, or School Avenue, Brownhills,
and was removed along with 11 others mounted on ancient Revo telegraph pole
mounted brackets along those two roads. Originally the brackets carried
incandescent lanterns; indeed the fuse holders in the cast iron fuse boxes are
still the original porcelain ones. The P42 conversions at least allowed the
original brackets to remain in place and Claire thinks that most other councils
would have just replaced the entire bracket with a new column.
Photographs
Top of Page
Philips MA 90
90W SOX
This is
another lantern from Danial. It came from a replacement scheme in an area called
Skewen in Neath. All of the columns and lanterns are being replaced as they are
mainly old concrete columns except for the odd one or two replacements. The
lanterns are also being replaced because the light levels needed to be improved.
The replacement lanterns being used are Thorn Riviera 2 lanterns running on 250W
SON lamps. Another reason why new columns are being installed is that the
council plan to put up Christmas decorations through Skewen in the not too
distant future and so all the new columns being installed are very thick steel
ones to take the weight of Christmas decorations and they also have a
weatherproof 16A plug socket at the top of each column so they can plug the
lights straight in.
The
lanterns were installed about five years ago when two mini roundabouts were
installed to improve the flow of traffic through a very busy junction. Some of
the columns have not been replaced because there isn't anything wrong with them
and they simply fitted the Riviera lanterns onto the existing columns and
brackets.
Photographs
Top of Page
Revo C13723/S
140W SO/H, SOI, 90W SOX
This
lantern is better known as a Revo "Dalek" due to the similarities in appearance
of the dimply ends of the bowl resembling the front of the famous Dr Who
characters. However, this lantern will not try and exterminate you! The lantern
is also from
Claire, and although its previous location is
not known, it is believed to have come from the west side of Wolverhampton due
to the fact that it hasn't been drilled for a photocell, as many in this area
were.
Photographs
Top of Page
Revo Prefect
80W MBF
This is
my second Prefect, and funnily enough, it is also an eBay win. I'm not sure
where it came from, but the seller's location was in the Dover area. Rather than
being mounted on a swan neck, it is mounted on an AC Ford wall bracket. Sadly,
this lantern is not in as good a condition as my first Prefect, but I still
should be able to sort it out nonetheless.
Photographs
Top of Page
Siemens SRL35
(previously known as the GEC Z9582)
35W SOX
A nice
change now, as this lantern is brand new and was even still boxed when I
received it. It was stored in the same 'magic' storeroom that the Alpha 6s were
in, although quite why it was never used is a mystery as it doesn't use anything
that is hard to come by today. SRL 35s are not a particularly common lantern in
the Derby area, as lanterns such as the Thorn Beta 5 and Philips MI 26/XGS 103
have always been preferred; however examples do exist on some roads built or
relit in the mid-1990s.
Photographs
Top of Page
OSRAM Z9536
55W SOX
This is
the side entry (and fibreglass canopied) version of the Z9537. Although it has
the Osram badge, it is no different to the GEC version. It has never been used
on a road - so guess where it has been stored since being delivered! This
lantern is very common around Derbyshire, although they usually have the gear in
the lantern, which this particular example does not have.
Photographs
Top of Page
Chalmit Davis GR100
90W SOX
Another
lantern that was kept to be used, but in the end never was! Although there are a
few GR100s around Derbyshire, there are not many that use the shallow bowl which
this one does.
Photographs
Top of Page
Philips 'Iridium' SGS 253
150W
CDM-TT
Zodion SS3DR
This
lantern was part of a new lighting scheme in 2003, designed to make the roads of
a rough estate safer. Unfortunately, many of the lanterns suffered badly at the
hands of vandals due to fairly low column heights, and so higher columns with
floodlights have been used to replace them. This lantern was one of the unlucky
ones and when removed had a smashed bowl, however a new one was fitted before I
received it.
Photographs
Top of Page
Thorn Alpha 4
135W
SOX
This is
the slightly larger version of the lantern I already own and comes complete with
gear. However, this lantern has definitely been used but after removal was left
in the lamp crushing room at the Derby lighting depot and so it is in desperate
need of a clean. The lantern is quite old - a date on the capacitor shows that
it was made in 1980.
Photographs
Top of Page
Urbis ZX3
150W
SON-T
Zodion SS5
This
lantern came from column DY3839 on Harvey Rd, Allenton. This means that it is
one of the lanterns that was used to re-light Derby's ring road early in 2004 -
the scheme that featured in a Derby Evening Telegraph news article with many
inaccuracies in the text (see the article
here), and so has only had a very short life on
the road. The reason for the lantern's removal was that the column was involved
in an accident. I'm surprised that the lantern wasn't re-used, being so new, but
obviously there must have been a reason why this happened. As I mention above in
the ZX1 article above, Urbis fittings are rare in Derbyshire and I thought that
the ZX3s along the ring road were owned by the Highways Agency, but this is not
the case as the city council removed it.
Photographs
Top of Page
Thorn Civic 1
57W
PL-T
Zodion SS3DR
This is
my first lantern to use a compact fluorescent lamp, so I'll be interested to see
how it compares to the brightness of other light sources. It, and several others
were used to replace some heavily vandalised Beta 5s on a footpath but
unfortunately they met a similar fate due to columns being low, and so they all
had to be replaced themselves. The bowl on this one had been practically
obliterated so a new one was fitted after removal.
Photographs
57w
PL-T (Damaged Version)
This
lantern came from the same area and was also removed as a result of vandalism.
However, it was damaged to an even greater extent - the gear section has
actually broken away from the main body of the lantern.
Photographs
Top of Page
Thorn Beta 4
80W MBF
This
lantern was removed from Derby's Nottingham Rd cemetery in mid 2004. It had been
derelict for many years until Jeremy managed to get it going earlier in the
year, however it wasn't really bright enough, and so it and the Revo column that
supported it were removed and some wall mounted SON floodlights were installed
as replacements.
Photographs
Top of Page
Philips 'Milewide' SRS 421
70W
CDM-TT
This is
another eBay win, however it is brand new and was even still boxed in the
original Philips box when I received it on Saturday, 22nd January 2005. The
lantern's name is a bit confusing - it is neither a mile wide, nor does it give
out a beam that is a mile wide! It is similar in internal appearance and design to the
SGS 203 - the only real difference being that it is more curved. The Milewide is
not used at all in Derbyshire, however examples can be seen over the border in
Nottingham City Centre, where a number were installed as part of the City's new
tram network in 2004.
Photographs
Top of Page
Industria 2600
70W
SON-T
Royce Thompson Monostar 1000
This
lantern came from a car park at Derby's Markeaton Park, and I received it and
the following lantern on Thursday, 3rd March 2005. It was removed because the
car park was to be re-lit with white light - in the form of 125W mercury lamps
in Beta 79s. As the lantern's canopy is constructed out of fibreglass, it was
beginning to shed its fibres, which was probably why the lanterns were replaced,
rather than have the lamps changed to CDM-TT or similar. These lanterns are not
common in the Derby area and are really only used in parks - however a quick hop
over the border to Staffordshire, and the situation is very different - there
are plenty of 2600s in use all over the County!
Photographs
Top of Page
GEC Z9481
35W SOX
This
lantern was on a Stanton 7 concrete column in the parking area of the Markeaton
St allotments (just a stone's throw away from the park where the 2600 came out
of in fact) and was removed when the column was pulled out. The lantern was
switched from the cell on a column on the main road, and so the base of the
column did not contain any other switching device. I do not know of any other
Z9481s in the City area.
Photographs
Top of Page
Thorn Gamma 5
125W
MBF
This, and
the following lantern were removed from a caravan park in Shelton Lock in early
2005. Following their removal, short outreach brackets were fitted to the
columns, and Beta 5s were installed. The lighting in the complex was all
controlled off one control point, so the lanterns are completely free of holes
drilled for photocells. Gamma 5s can still be seen in the City, as
Survivor #64 proves, however they are all owned
by Housing Association, or occasionally can be seen inside substation complexes.
Photographs
Top of Page
GEC Z5680
35W SOX
50th
complete Lantern in Collection!
Yep, this
is indeed my 50th complete lantern to go into the collection - I originally was
just going to stick with the Alpha 1, and not collect any more lanterns after
that, but then I realised that this lantern collecting lark is actually rather
addictive, and so the number of lanterns has increased at a rather alarming
rate! The Z5680 itself looks nothing like the other two GEC post tops I already
own - the design leans more towards the 'functional' than the aesthetic
properties, I reckon, but even so it is still quite a distinctive lantern and
would light its surrounding area to a satisfactory level.
Photographs
Top of Page
Philips MI 8 (aka Phosco P224)
35W SOX
Zodion SS55
The
original location for this lantern is unknown, but it was used in the City
Council area. I can't think of the locations of any for now, but that isn't
surprising as I don't think that the lantern was made for long. This lantern
should not be confused with the MI 80, another lantern made by Philips, despite
the fact that both can accommodate a 55W SOX lamp. This lantern may have been
55W in the past, but it was 35W when removed, and looks as if it had been for at
least a few of its latter years.
Photographs
Top of Page
Abacus AM202
70W
SON-T
Zodion SS55
This
lantern came from a footpath near to some flats and was replaced with a Gamma 6.
The only apparent reason behind the replacement was because the majority of th | 